HIV/AIDS and traditional healers: a blessing in disguise
Meel, B.L.
Medicine Science and the Law 50(3): 154-155
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8024 PMID: 21133268 DOI: 10.1258/msl.2010.010006Document Number: 625450
Traditional healers contribute significantly to the level of health-care systems in Africa. They could play an important role in the prevention and care of patients with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in the community. The traditional healing system deals with psychosocial stress associated with HIV/AIDS as well as herbal medications. Sometimes, herbal medicine causes serious life-threatening complications. Two case reports are presented in this article. The first is a 48-year-old woman with HIV who was made to drink a large volume of a herbal decoction to stimulate vomiting in the belief that cleansing the bowel would rid the system of the disease. The second is a 25-year-old young man who had a herbal enema, which resulted in gangrene of the large bowel. The case histories, mechanism of action and causes of death are discussed.